Portal:Current events/2020 May 7
May 7, 2020 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- The U.S. removes four Patriot missile batteries, two jet fighter squadrons and dozens of military personnel from Saudi Arabia while considering a reduction in the U.S. Navy presence in the Persian Gulf. (The Wall Street Journal)
- Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Saudi Arabia withdraws its troops from the Yemeni island of Socotra amid separatist unrest. (Middle East Monitor)
Disasters and accidents
- Visakhapatnam gas leak
- Eleven people die and over 5,000 fall ill from a styrene gas leak from an LG Polymers chemical plant in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, India. (Times of India)
Health and environment
- COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
- The Canadian Catholic Jesuit community at Pickering, Ontario mourns the deaths of five members of their community, including four priests, who died of COVID-19 at the religious order’s long-term care facility. (Crux)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
International relations
- China–Indonesia relations
- Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi summons Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Xiao Qian to express concerns about the alleged human rights violation of Indonesian workers aboard Chinese fishing vessels. This comes after a video showing Chinese sailors throwing the body of a dead Indonesian crew member overboard went viral. (The Jakarta Post)
Law and crime
- Shooting of Ahmaud Arbery
- Gregory and Travis McMichael are arrested for murder and aggravated assault in relation to the February shooting of an African American man in Brunswick, Georgia. (ABC News)
- Lesothan King Letsie III approves a law barring Prime Minister Tom Thabane from dissolving parliament and calling an election in the event of a vote of no confidence. (Reuters)
- Criminal charges brought in the Mueller special counsel investigation
- The U.S. Department of Justice drops its prosecution of Michael Flynn for lying to the FBI. He previously pleaded guilty to the charges during the investigation led by Robert Mueller. (Politico)